Portuguese Orthographic Accord to go into effect in Portugal in 2011/2012

Friday, December 10, 2010

Here it is, straight from the government 20 minutes ago. The gist of it is:

The government today approved in the Council of Ministers a resolution that determined the application of the Portuguese Language Orthographic Accord in the educational system in the academic year 2011/2012 and, beginning 1 January 2012, in the government and all services, organs and dependent entities of the government, as well as the publication of the Diário da República.

(skip two paragraphs...)

The adoption of the resolution is part of the initiatives undertaken during the period of transition of six years established to guarantee the progressive adaption and application of the orthographic accord in Portugal.

(Next paragraph is about how social media etc. is helping to smooth the transition, and then)

The adoption of the orthographic accord, adopted by the eight CPLP countries, aims to contribute to the expansion and affirmation of the Portuguese language, by consolidating its role as a medium of communication and diffusion of knowledge, support in scientific discourse, literary, cultural and artistic expression, and closing cultural links. The orthographic harmonization is also vital for the 250 million speakers in Portuguese communities abroad, international organizations etc.....

The adopted resolution also aims, starting 1 January 2011, to intensify initiatives to inform and make public employees and citizens in general aware of the implications of the new orthographic accord.

It'll be interesting to see what happens here at TED, where Portuguese is divided into two languages. Kind of silly given that English doesn't even have an orthographic accord (gaol/jail, axe/ax, armour/armor etc.) and yet never gets classified as two.

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